


follow me into the dark

by RedRoci



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, but for the moment everyone's an oc, but they will show up eventually, really only tangentially related to canon at this point, seriously joel and ellie won't show up at all til later, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:22:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22221757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedRoci/pseuds/RedRoci
Summary: sorry
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	follow me into the dark

"Dad? Daddy, you home?" 

"I'm upstairs, kiddo, I'll be right down." 

It'd be faster if she went up to meet him, but she went to the kitchen to throw out her empty Starbucks cup and wash her hands. She heard him behind her as she turned off the tap, turned around to see him leaning against the door frame. 

"Hey, kid, good to see you." 

"Hi Dad, how are you? Sorry I'm so late, traffic was murder." 

"Took 35 again, didn't you."

Cody rolled her eyes and flung her arms wide in an exaggerated shrug. "Yeah, I took 35 again, Dad."

"I keep telling you, you could just take-" 

"Yeah, I could just take 281 to 67. But when the traffic's not bad on 35, it's so much shorter. _And_ there's less cops." 

"Which wouldn't be a problem if you didn't drive like a bat out of hell." 

"Learned it from you," she said, winking, and crossed the remaining distance across the kitchen for a hug. 

"Glad you made it ok, kiddo." 

"Mom still at work?" 

Matt frowned slightly, shaking his head. "She got called up to Atlanta a few days ago." 

"That thing in the news? Cordyceps?" 

"Probably. She couldn't talk about it, but she seemed worried." He sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing absently at his right leg where it met his prosthetic, just above the knee. Noticed her noticing. "Gets sore when the weather's about to turn." He did it when he had something on his mind, something was bothering him. Something he didn't want to talk about, so she brushed it off. 

"You have a promising career as a meteorologist ahead of you, dad." He laughed, and was about to reply when his phone started ringing. Elvis. Mom's song. 

"Hey baby, what's up?" 

Cody couldn't hear what her mom said, but as her dad's smile faded into confusion, then a frown, she started to feel sick to her stomach. She recognized the expression. The last time she'd seen it he'd been watching the news while she was getting ready for school. A Tuesday morning, another September, a long time ago. He glanced at her and tried to smile, but it wasn't very convincing. 

"You'll meet us there, right?... Yeah, of course I'll call him… Baby, are you sure you can't… No, it's ok, don't… Yeah. I love you. I'll see you soon." 

"Dad…" 

He didn’t try smiling again, just reached out and brushed her hair out of her face. "We're gonna meet your mom at the cabin. I'm gonna go upstairs and grab a couple things, I want you to put your bag in my truck, then get the gun out of the safe in the study." 

"Daddy, what did mom say?" 

"She said to get out of the city, and not to ask questions because she can't answer. And to call your brother, tell him to meet us at the cabin." 

Her mom and her brother hadn’t spoken in eight years, not since they’d fought about college and Nate had thrown his house key on the table and walked out the front door with nothing but the clothes on his back. Matt had been deployed at the time, his first time back in the field since losing his leg. When he came home to find his son gone, he'd been sure that Nate would be back, that Jenn would reconcile with him. And she never had. If she was reaching out, if she was planning on meeting _all_ of them, whatever was happening had to be serious. The last few weeks had been rough at work, multiple calls to pick up people who’d been violently attacked by loved ones or friends, the symptoms of the infection resembling rabies…

 _“Dakota."_ She’d frozen, only snapping back to reality at the sound of her father’s voice. He put his hands on her shoulders, looked her in the eye to make sure she was listening. “Everything is going to be ok, sweetheart. But I need you to listen to me, ok? Get your stuff together, we gotta go.”

The cabin was in Kentucky, a little house in the foothills that Mom had inherited from her father. Out in the middle of nowhere, quiet. Dad had always liked it, said it reminded him of a storybook. He’d grown up in the city, so whenever they lived within driving distance of the place he’d make it a point to take the family out there on weekends. Eventually it had become the family rally point in case of a disaster, natural or otherwise. He’d made sure they all knew, even if they couldn’t contact each other, they had to be able to find each other there. For all he’d said everything would be ok, Cody couldn’t help noticing oddities in his behavior. Taking the interstate north, despite his repeated insistence that smaller roads were better. More scenic, he’d always said on road trips in the past. Less traffic, he’d tell Cody when she complained of getting jammed up on I-35 between home and school. But it was 10pm and I-30 was all but empty, and her father was _speeding_. Out of character again. And the radio was tuned to NPR instead of the local country station she knew he preferred. Still worse, he kept up a steady stream of chatter as he drove, trying to distract her. Distract her from whatever it was mom had said on the phone, from the local news he was avoiding on the radio. From the gun in his belt and the rifle in the rack over the truck’s back window. 

“How’s school going? That lit professor still on your nerves? Whatever happened to that guy you were seeing, what was his name…” But all she could think about was work. The hospital, at capacity with sick people, the ERs full of confused, angry patients who only got more agitated and aggressive the longer they had to wait for doctors and nurses pulling double shifts and running on caffeine. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Caffeine. 

“Dad, can we stop for coffee?”

“Sure thing, kiddo, next place we see. Did you get a hold of your brother yet?”

“No, he’s still not answering his phone. Left him a couple voicemails and like twelve texts.” 

Matt frowned, gaze still fixed on the road ahead. “Try him again in a little while.” Glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I’m sure he’s fine, probably just sleeping or something.”

“Yeah…” Nate always answered her. She was the exception to his do not disturb setting, a fact that she knew because he’d once answered her phone call while he was with his girlfriend. None of this was helping the sick feeling in her stomach. Maybe coffee wasn’t such a good idea. 

It was just after 2 am when they found a gas station with a 24-hour store. Matt adjusted his shirt and jacket to cover the gun in his belt as he got out of the truck, and Cody frowned. 

“Dad, you can’t take that in there, see the signs?” 

“Just trust me sweetheart, ok?”

“Dad, stop.” He turned to look at her, about to argue. “I’m not a little kid anymore. You can tell me what's bothering you." 

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright. The national guard got called in to quarantine a number of hospitals. Baylor, Parkland. St. David's in Austin." 

"St. David's? I was at St. David's yesterday…" 

"Guard was activated this morning. Not just in Texas; Louisiana, Alabama, New Mexico. They kept it out of the news, your mom told me. Listen sweetheart, whatever this is… It's the kind of thing mom isn't allowed to talk about in case a panic starts. And she did it anyway." He waited a moment, watching her absorb that information. "So whatever’s going on, it's serious. I'm not gonna go in there and threaten the cashier or anything, but I'm not going in there unarmed either." Cody nodded, then brushed her sleeve over her eyes. "It's gonna be ok, kiddo. Everything's gonna be ok. Come on, let's go get that coffee and get back on the road." 

  
  


It was just starting to get light out when Cody woke up. Dad had turned the radio off at some point. 

"Where are we?" she tried to stretch, and winced at the noise her spine made. 

"About two hours from Lexington. Almost there." 

"I was gonna switch out with you…" 

"I didn't wanna wake you. I did finish your coffee though, sorry." 

Cody laughed, then yawned again. "You want to trade now, or..?" 

"No, like I said, we're nearly there." They weren't on the interstate anymore. Cody didn't know _what_ road they were on, it wasn't even big enough to have lanes. 

"What happened to the radio?" 

"Broadcast cut out a couple hours ago, couldn't get it back. I think there's a, uh, Metallica cd in the glove box. Or Queen? I don't remember." 

Cody opened the glove box to check, and hesitated. There were two cds in there, Metallica and Queen. The other thing in there was a gun. Hers, she realized, the 380 that Dad had given her to keep in her car when she moved out. She hadn't thought to get it out of the Jetta before they left the house. Matt noticed her hesitation, reached over and selected the Queen cd. 

"I like this one best, personally." He gently shut the glove box and handed her the case. 

" _Jazz_ , huh?" 

"It's a good record!" he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as she put the disc in the cd player. "Listen Cody, I know you're worried. But everything's going to be ok, I promise--" 

Cody screamed as a man stumbled out in front of the truck, and Matt had to swerve hard to the left to miss him. Didn't quite miss him, the truck fishtailed and they felt the back corner hit the man. As the truck slid to a halt, Matt saw the man, now with one arm dangling loosely and missing part of his jaw, shamble to his feet, seemingly unconcerned at the damage. Matt’s eyes widened slightly and he slammed his foot down on the accelerator as Cody turned around to look.

“Dad, wait! We can’t just…” she trailed off at the sight of the man. “Dad…”

“I don’t know, kiddo. I don’t know. We’re not going back. Try your brother again.”

This time the call didn’t get through the first ring before Nate picked up. “Cody? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, we’re good. Where have you been, I’ve been trying to call you?” 

“I was outside of Nashville, I’m almost to the cabin. The army’s all over the place, I’ve been having trouble getting a cell signal. I think they’re jamming civilian comms. Are you with Dad? Where are you?” 

“Jamming--” she held the phone away from her mouth and looked at her father. “Would the army do that?”

Matt shook his head, his expression uncertain. “Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know. We’re about twenty minutes out, we’ll be there soon.”

“Nate, we’re almost there. Umm. Are you ok? Have you seen...you know...people…?”

“Something happened at the hospital in Nashville, something bad. I don’t know. The patients...got out…” As he trailed off, Matt’s phone started playing Elvis again. He picked up, gestured to Cody for quiet.

“Jenn? Where are you?” 

“Nate, Mom just called, hang on…”

“Yeah, we’re not far, we’ll come to you… No, don’t, just stay in your car, we’ll be right there.”

“What’d she say?”

“She’s just outside Manchester, she’s run out of gas. Give me your phone, I want to talk to your brother.” 

Jenn’s car had died about 3 miles outside of Manchester in the parking lot of a convenience store. She heard the rumble of a motorcycle engine and hunched down in the front seat of her car before realizing it was Nate on the bike. He pulled into the parking lot and stopped, looking around before recognizing her car. He stepped closer and then stopped, looked away from her. Wouldn’t make eye contact. She felt a twinge of pain in her chest: he was still angry with her, even after all this time? Of course he was, and she couldn’t blame him. Matt’s truck pulled in just behind him, and they both turned to watch, grateful for something else to focus on. 

“Jenn? Are you ok?” Matt called as he swung down from the truck. 

Cody jumped out and ran straight at her brother, almost knocking him down. “How bad was it in Nashville? We left Dallas before it got bad, I think.” 

“I don’t know, I wasn’t in the city. Something was on fire, I could hear gunfire. The highway was backed up for miles, I cut through a couple fields.” 

Matt was crouched on the ground, examining Jenn’s car. “I thought you said you ran out of gas? This looks like you ran it over a spike strip.” Her left rear tire was shredded, and the damage appeared to extend up under the car. 

“I may have hit something coming through Middlesboro. I don’t know what it was.”

“Jenn, that’s _miles_ away.” 

“I know, but I didn’t want to take the time to stop and try to change the tire, not...not by myself.”

Matt nodded. It was a pretty good reason, considering. He pulled the tire iron out of the trunk, then shook his head at himself. She’d punctured the gas tank, changing the tire now wouldn’t do anyone any good. He grabbed one of her bags out of the back instead, taking it to his truck. “Nate, go grab the rest of your mom’s stuff, will you? We’re gonna have to leave the car here.”

“Sure thing, Dad.”

Cody was looking around the parking lot. There were three other vehicles, but the store looked abandoned. One of the cars had been left with two doors open. No bodies or anything inside, just...left. She turned back toward the others just in time to catch a glimpse of movement just past them, on the far side of the lot. 

The man's shoulder looked like something had ripped it open, but he didn't seem to notice. He was muttering frantically under his breath as he stumbled across the pavement, nothing coherent, just nonsense. And then he caught sight of them and _screamed_ , before rushing at Nate, who was closest. Nate raised his arms, but Jenn stepped between them and shoved Nate back before jamming a knife through the infected man's eye, her scream of rage almost drowning him out. Nate recovered his balance and swung the tire iron at the man's head, finishing him off. Jenn stumbled backwards from the collapsing body, into her son. 

"Mom?" 

She was covered in blood. 

Matt and Cody caught up to them. 

"Are you ok?" Matt took a quick look at the body to be sure it wasn't going to get back up, then turned to his wife. "Jenn, baby, _are you hurt_?" 

"I'm fine, I'm okay. I don't think any of it's mine," she answered, her voice shaking. 

"Mom, your arm… You're bleeding," Cody said, taking her mother's hand and pulling it in for a closer look. "did he… bite you?" 

Jenn closed her eyes as if in pain. Matt, kneeling beside her with one hand on her shoulder, went rigid. 

Nate was on his knees digging through his backpack. "I've got a first aid kit in here somewhere, hang on…" 

"Stop. Don't… Don't waste your supplies." She was smiling at him, but there were tears in her eyes. 

"Mom--" 

"Cody, sweetheart, don't argue. It's already too late." 

"Jenn, no." Matt's jaw clenched. He too was fighting back tears. 

"Fatal, inside 72 hours. Without exception. We couldn't treat it, couldn't cure it. Brain function would cease and the bodies would… would…" she trailed off, took a deep breath. Smiled gently at her children and continued, her tone now even and clinical. "The bodies would keep going, controlled, as far as we could tell, by the parasite. By tomorrow morning, it won't be me in here anymore."

"Jenn." Matt's voice broke. She reached out to touch his face, but stopped halfway. Blood on her hands. She closed her hand and pulled back, fresh wave of tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Mom, you shouldn't have--" Nate broke off, choking back a sob. 

"Nathaniel. The only thing that I regret is the years that I missed for my own stubborn pride." 

"Mom, I'm sorry. I should have called, should have come home, I was stupid and stubborn and--" 

"Nate. You're my son. I should have fixed this a long time ago. I love you, and I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that 8 years ago. Forgive me." Nate, now weeping outright, could only nod. Jenn smiled again, took another deep breath. “Cody, honey, there’s nothing you can do, ok? I need you to let go of my arm, sweetheart.” Cody, frozen in place with her mother’s wrist in her hands, only shook her head. 

“There has to be something--” 

“We’ve been studying it for months, sweetheart. Maybe if we had more time, but we just _don’t_ . I’m so sorry honey. _I love you._ Please remember that.” 

Cody was shaking all over now, barely able to speak, but: “I love you too.”

“Nate, take your sister back to the truck, I need to talk to your dad.” The tremor was back in her voice, her professionalism wearing thin. Nate gently pried Cody’s hands from Jenn’s arm and half walked, half carried her back to the truck. 

“Matt…” she had to pause again, collect herself as Matt pulled her into his lap, disregarding the blood drying on her clothes. “Matt, I wish...I wish we had more time.” She laughed, hysteria along the edge of the sound. “I thought we’d be safe, I thought the cabin would be far enough…I need you to--”

“I can’t...Jenn, _please_. There’s gotta be something we can try.”

“Oh, darling...I wish there was. I wish I could point you at an enemy you could defeat, but believe me, if there was anything that might even slow it down, we didn’t find it.” 

Matt knew what she was going to ask him. He knew, and he wasn’t sure he had it in him. 

“Matthew. I can’t do this. I can’t do it, I need you.” She was shaking now, the fear and panic settling on her in earnest. “I won’t be me tomorrow, please, you have to understand...I’ve seen it. We couldn’t save any of them…I don’t want to hurt anyone, Matt. Please, don’t let me--” 

He cut her off mid-sentence, cradled her head into his shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you. I’m so sorry,” she sobbed into his jacket. 

Matt glanced over her head to make sure the kids couldn’t see them. 

_Everything is going to be ok._

Closed his eyes. 

_Everything 's gonna be ok._

Kissed the top of his wife’s head. 

_Everything will be ok._

Pulled the trigger.

_I promise._

**Author's Note:**

> sorry


End file.
